Josephus’ account of a war marked by treachery and atrocity is a superbly detailed and evocative record of the Jewish rebellion against Rome between AD 66 and 70. Originally a rebel leader, Josephus changed sides after he was captured to become a Rome-appointed negotiator, and so was uniquely placed to observe these turbulent events, from [...]
As a Palestinian youth, Sulaiman Khatib encountered the occupation in his village and attempted to fight back, stabbing an Israeli. Imprisoned at the age of 14, he began a process of political and spiritual transformation still unfolding today. In a book he asked Penina Eilberg-Schwartz, an American Jew, to write, and based on years of [...]
A family saga and a magical self-portrait of a writer who witnessed the birth of Israel and lived through its turbulent history. A Tale of Love and Darkness is the story of a boy who grows up in war-torn Jerusalem, in a small apartment crowded with books in twelve languages and relatives speaking nearly as many. [...]
From his time teaching side by side with Israelis at the Hebrew University through his appointment by Yasir Arafat to administer the Arab Jerusalem, Sari Nusseibeh's Once Upon a Country dives into the consequences of war, partition, and terrorism in this land.
Instantly recognizable with his iconic eye patch, Moshe Dayan (1915–1981) was one of Israel's most charismatic—and controversial—personalities. As a youth he earned the reputation of a fearless warrior, and in later years as a leading military tactician, admired by peers and enemies alike. As chief of staff during the 1956 Sinai Campaign and as minister [...]
According to Aviva Klompas, representing Israel at the United Nations is like volunteering to sell Red Sox paraphernalia outside Yankee Stadium. During her time as the director of speechwriting for Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Klompas crafted highly acclaimed speeches that advanced Israel’s policies and informed public opinion. In Speaking for Israel, Klompas [...]
Born on a kibbutz, Ehud Barak became commander of Israel's elite special forces, then army Chief of Staff, and ultimately, Prime Minister. My Country, My Life tells the unvarnished story of his -- and his country's -- first seven decades; of its major successes, but also its setbacks and misjudgments. He offers candid assessments of [...]
In 1934, eleven-year-old Shimon Peres emigrated to the land of Israel from his Poland, leaving behind an extended family who would later be murdered in the Holocaust. Few back then would have predicted that this young man would eventually become one of the towering figures of the twentieth century. Peres would go on to serve [...]
A major figure in Israeli politics, Yitzhak Shamir chronicles his long career and his fervent belief in Zionism, recounting how he left Poland to join the Jewish underground of Palestine, spent years in the Mossad, and became Prime Minister of Israel.
Autobiography and history are combined in this chronicle of unending struggle, in the 1920s and 1930s, by the Zionist Revisionists and the Irgun Zvai Leumi to get Jews from Europe to Palestine and then to fight the British and the Arabs for independence. Some of the most interesting parts, as one might expect, have to [...]
